Children's Social Care Ofsted Report

Ofsted has just published its latest report into Children’s Social Care across the borough and have concluded that children in Sefton remain safe.

They have also concluded that Sefton Council’s response to Child Sexual Exploitation has been very good and the local authority’s approach to involving children and young people is seen as a strength.

Similar to most other local authorities across the country, Ofsted’s judgement is that our services require improvement to be good. No children were found to be in circumstances of unacceptable risk.

The report is Sefton’s first under the regulator’s new framework, which is much tougher than its predecessors.

The inspectors found that Leadership is strong and there is overall a strong determination to improve service for children in Sefton. The improvement we require to ensure all our children’s services are good, are understood and accepted.

Cllr John Joseph Kelly, Sefton Council's Cabinet Member Children, Schools and Safeguarding, said: "The latest Ofsted report places Sefton Council’s Children’s Social Care as requiring improvement to be good – similar to most other local authorities across the Country.

"We recognise and accept the report and will now work through all the recommendations made and put in place an action plan to improve our services. The action plan and our progress will be shared and I will ensure complete transparency. We have a relatively new management team in Children’s Social Care who I am confident can deliver the required improvements.

“I am pleased that the report recognises areas of good practice such as our work on identifying and protecting young people at risk of child sexual exploitation and our approach to involving young people in decisions which affect their lives every day."